Weight control guide

ABSTRACT

A rectangular housing journals interconnected pairs of axles having elongated flexible strips with data printed thereon connected with and windable from one axle to the other by means of control wheels projecting through a partition wall in the housing. Openings in the wall visibly expose data on the sheets as the latter is moved. A battery operated lamp is periodically lighted to expose other data on one sheet. Manually movable dials, journaled by the partition wall record quantities of daily allowable foods consumed by the user. A scale mounted within the housing records the weight of food to be consumed when placed within a measuring container normally partially surrounding and supported by the rearward portion of the housing.

United States Patent Inventor William L. c 1,400,469 12/1921 Weine 177/243X 2801 S. Air Depot, Midwest City, 0108- 2,069,499 2/1937 Marin et al. 177/238 73110 2,107,888 2/1938 Dean 177/239X Appl. No. 782,883 3,106,977 10/1963 Wells l77/246X Filed Dec-11,1968 3,382,941 5/1968 Novak... l77/245X Patented Feb. 23,1971 3,3 87,676 6/1968 Porter l77/245X Continuation-impart of application Ser- No- 3,433,406 3 1969 Carter 235/128 544,949, Apr. 25, 1966, now Patent N0. 3,433,407 3/1969 Carter 235/128 22 x 1 an f H fi Se N FOREIGN PATENTS on ua on-ul-p o app ca on r. 0. Mar. 1968, now Patent No. 546,566 7/1956 ltaly 116/114 3,433,407. Primary Examiner-Louis J. Capozi AttorneyRobert K. Rhea ggxg fi ABSTRACT: A rectangular housing journals interconnected g pairs of axles having elongated flexible strips with data printed U.S.Cl 177/230, thereon connected with and windable from one axle to the 1 1 177/245 other by means of control wheels projecting through a parti- Int. Cl G0lg 3/00, tio wall in the housing, Openings in the wall visibly expose 3 g 21/18 data on the sheets as the latter is moved. A battery operated Field OfSemCh 1 16/1 14, lamp is periodically lighted to expose other data on one sheet, 235/1 28; l77/l 70, 171, 210, 3 4 Manually movable dials,journaled by the partition wall record quantities of daily allowable foods consumed by the user. A scale mounted within the housing records the weight of food Re'eremes c'ted to be consumed when placed within a measuring container UNITED STATE PATE T normally partially surrounding and supported by the rearward 2 2 ,7 0 7/1835 Tumbull 117/170 portion of the gl\ i an 68 70 2 l l 100 l 60 78 ,a 02 84; 11 -e r I I 2 76 94 t:l

PATENTEDFEBZBIBYI 3565,19?

' SHEEI 1 BF 2 AGENT WILLIAM 1.. CARTER PATENTEDFEBgmsn 3565.197

v sum 2 OF 2 a: FIG. 6

WILLIAM L.- CARTER INVENTOR.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present invention is a continuation-in-part of an application filed by me in the U.S. Pat. office on Apr. 25, 1966, Ser. No 544,949 for Calorie-Gram Indicator and Alarm, now Pat. No. 3,433,406, issued Mar. 18, 1969, and my application filed Mar. 19, I968, Ser. No. 714,314 for Weight control Aid now Pat. No. 3,433,407, issued Mar. 18, 1969.

This invention is an improvement over the above referred to applications by providing additional dials for recording other classes of foods and providing a measuring means for easily determining the quantity or weight of foods about to be consumed. Furthermore, this invention is an improvement over my Calorie and Gram Indicator U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,323,720, issued June 6, 1967 and 3,337,129, issued Aug. 22, 1967 for the same reasons.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A The present invention is intended as an aid for individuals who are weight watchers" and are interested in controlling their weight for better health. This device provides a psychological and emotional conditioning control or appeal in the form of phrases to stimulate the'userseating reflex and for accurately recording the intake of calories or grams of carbohydrates, protein and fats to insure the correct quantities forabalanced diet. 1

A United States Agriculture Department surveyshows one household in every 5,0r percent, eats a nutritionally poor" combination of foods by the Departments standards. Only 15 percent were in this category in 1955 when the last survey was made.

Only halfof the households sampled were found to be eating enough of the right foods to give a nutritionally good diet. The previous survey showed 60 percent of households ate a nutritionally good diet.

The downturn in nutritional value was attributed largely to a national turn away from milk and milk products, fruits and vegetables.

This device provides a simple record and guide for the user to follow and insure to follow and insure the eating of a balanced diet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A rectangular boxlike housing is provided with a hingedly connected door for opening an closing the side of the housing forming the front. Pillow blocks within the housing journal two pairs of shafts in parallel aligned'relation. An elongated sheet of flexible material, having numerals printed thereon, is connected at its respective ends to each pair of shafts and is windable therearound as the shafts are rotated by control wheels. A partition wall, forming a false front inwardly of the door, is provided with openings exposing the control wheels and numerals on the sheet material. Batteries, within the housing connected to a lamp through a switch closed through spaced openings in one sheet, illuminates'diet inhibiting suggestions printed on one sheet as the latter is moved by one control wheel. A flashlight-type bulb, mounted in one end portion of the housing and connected with the batteries, forms a flashlight. Dials, journaled by the partition, are manually moved to block off and record portions of daily allowable quantities of foods as they are consumed. This encourages the user to eat only a required quantity of basic variety of good quality food to insure a balanced diet.

The principal objects of the present invention are to provide a device of relatively small size which serves as an aid to: facilitate quality control of the diet by providing dials having pictures of foods, classified and divided into portions which must be consumed for a balanced diet; control of foods by means for measuring the quantity and indicating the totals of calories and grams of carbohydrates consumed, each meal and for the day, which may be recorded on the device to obtain a total for a selected number of days and as an incentive toward following a prescribed diet; specially control the intake in a diet protein, fat, carbohydrates, and sodium by using dials to register a daily count; provide specially control accurate graphic record of the status of the users diet with-respect to quality and quantity at any selected time during the day; and, to provide a record extending over a selected period of time for analyzing the diet and its results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the front of the device;

FIG. 2 is similar perspective view illustrating the door in open position, and illustrating in exploded relation, the measuring container;

FIG. 3 is a right end elevation of the device with the door in opened position;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the device, to a larger scale, with the door removed;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the device and measuring container in operative position;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIG. 5; and Y FIG. 7 is a perspective view, to a different scale of the back side of the device with the measuring container removed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT Like characters of reference designate like parts in those FIGS. of the drawings in which they occur. In the drawings;

' vided with a door or cover 28, having an opening handle or knob 29 on its formed surface, hingedly connected between the depending end portions of the'end walls 22 and 24 for vertical pivoting movement toward and away from the housing about a horizontal axis. The inside surface of the door 28 is provided with a plurality of ruled or grid lines 30 for recording data, such as total grams, calories or weight figures, not shown. I

The respective end walls 22 and 24 are characterized, at their depending ends, by a rectangular recess or notch for nesting one wall portion of a measuring container 40, presently described in detail. The depending end notched surfaces of the end walls 22 and 24 support the housing 16 on an incline, as shown in FIG. 3, when the door 28 is opened forwardly of the housing.

The handle 29 projects through the door and is provided on its inner surface with a pair of metallic bars, indicated by the lines 32 (FIG. 2), for magnetic attraction by a permanent magnet 33 secured to a partition wall 42 positioned within the housing 16 inwardly and extending between the top, bottom and end walls parallel with the plane housing front and of the door 28.

The partition wall 42 has secured thereto, in overlying relation along its depending edge portion, a panel 44 having an upper horizontal row or series of semicircular apertures 46. A like plurality of wheellike dials 48, each'having a notched or toothed periphery, are' interposed between the forward surface of the wall 42 and the panel 44. Stub shafts 50, extending coaxially through each of the dials 48 and through the wall and panel, journal the dials for manual rotation about the axis of the shafts 50. Each of the dials 48 are provided with a cooperating substantially semicircular opening 52 for mating with the respective semicircular openings 46 and concealing food pictures, not shown, printed on the wall 42 and visible through the openings 46. One of the dials 48 is provided for each of a selected different class of foods necessary for a balanced diet, such as: fruit and vegetables; meat, poultry fish and eggs; milk and diary products; and, bread and cereals. Similarly a second or lower row of semicircular openings 54 extend horizontally across the depending surface of the panel 44 and are similarly provided with semicircular shaped dials 56 journaled by pins 58 which project forwardly of the panel 44 for manual movement of the semicircular dials 56. One of these semicircular dials 56 is provided for: fat; sodium; and, protein. The face of the panel 44 is scored or marked with indicia around the respective semicircular openings 46 and 54 for indicating the quantity of the respective food consumed for each meal and as a total for the day. The partition wall 42 is provided with apertures 57 for exposing data printed on strips, not shown, and registered with the apertures by means of control wheels 59 projecting through the wall 42.

The measuring container 40 is rectangular in general configuration having end walls 60 and 62, sidewalls 64 and 66 integrally joined with a bottom wall 68. The overall dimensions of the container and the height of it's'end and sidewalls is preferably such that'the inner surface of the respective end and sidewallscontiguously contact and nest the respective rearward portion of the end, top and bottom walls of the housing 16 with the container bottom wall 68 contacting the backwall 26 as illustrated in FIG. I. The'container 40 is' further characterized by an integral rectangular support block 70 centrally secured to the outermost surface of its bottom wall 68 which projects laterally thereof.

The housing 16 and container 40 a preferably dimensioned such that the volume of the container 40 equals slightly more than one cup of liquid. At least one inner wall of the container 40 is preferably scored, as at 72, to indicate the respective fourths divisions of a cup of liquidmeasure for the purposes presently apparent.

The housing backwall 26 is provided in its depending end portion with a rectangular aperture or opening 74, defined by an inner wall 75, having slightly greater overall dimensions than the outside dimensions of the container support 72. The inner wall 75 is secured to the backwall 26 around the opening 74 and extends inwardly from the backwall 26 to the rearward surface of the partition wall 42. A cylindrical tube or standard 76 is connected to the back surface-of the front wall 42 centrally of the opening 44 for receiving a shaft 78 centrally connected to a relatively thin rectangular platform 80 dimensioned to be loosely received by the edges of the backwall 26 forming the opening 74. v

-A weight indicator arm 82 is pivotally connected by a rivet 84, intermediate its ends, to one of the walls defining the opening 74. One end of the arm 82 is slotted for receiving a pin 86 connected with the stem 78 for movement of the opposite pointed end 88 of the arm. This pointed end 88 of the arm projects through a slot 90 form -in housing end wall 22. The end wall 22 is provided with a recess 92 defined by opposing arcuate inwardly directed walls an elongated opening extending from the backwall 26 toward the plane of the housing front forming a recess 92 defined by opposing arcuate inwardly directed walls connected with the inner surface of the end wall 22 along opposing longitudinal sides of the opening and terminating inwardly of the housing in spaced-apart relation to form a slot. The walls 92 are scored or marked with indicia cooperatively positioned for indicating weight, by ounces and grams, respectively, on the wall surfaces. A spring 94 is connected at one end with the arm 82 and is connected 4 at its other end by a swivel to a plug 96 threadedly extending through the handle 44 and partition wall 42 for adjusting the position of the weight indicating arm 82 to zero ounces or grams. Thus, as shown in FIG. 5, the measuring container'40 may be positioned on the weight platform 80 and the indicator arm 82 adjusted to compensate for the weight of the container 40 to read zero and subsequently record the weight of foods, not shown, placed within the container 40.

The back of the housing 16 is further provided with a circular opening 98 in its backwall 26 a pill or capsule chamber 100 which is opened and closed by a cap'l02.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alternations without defeating its practicability, therefore, I do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein.

.I claim: 1. In combination with a weight control guide rectangular housing having a backwall and having a top wall, bottom wall and end walls joined to said backwall for defining an open front, a partition wall in the housing extending between said top, bottom and end walls parallel with the plane defining the open front, the backwall of said housing having an opening; an inner wall extending between said partition wall and said backwall around the opening in the latter, saidinner wall having an aperture, one end wall of said: housing having an elongated opening extending from said backwall toward the front of said housing; opposing inwardlydirected walls connected with the inner surface of said end walls along opposing sides of the elongated opening and terminating in spaced relation to form a slot, the improvement comprising: weighing scale means disposed within said housing including a weight receiving platform freely received within the confines of said inner wall, said scale means further including, a tubular standard connected at one end with said partition'wall inwardly of the opening in said backwall, a shaft connected with said weight receiving platform and slidably received within said standard; an indicator arm projecting through the aperture in said inner wall; a rivet pivotally connecting said indicator arm, intermediate its ends, to said inner wall; and a pin connected with and projecting laterally of said shaft, said indicator and having a slot in one end portion slidably rece'iving'said pin.

2. Structure as specified in claim 1 and means including a spring connected, at one end, with said indicator arm for adjusting its weight indicating action.

3. Structure as specified in claim-2am! further including a plug threadedly engaged with said partition wall and connected with the other end of said spring adjusting the tension of said spring. v

4. Structure as specified in claim 3 in which the end of said indicator arm opposite its slotted end is tapered to define a pointed end portion projecting outwardly through the slo formed in said one end wall. 1

5. Structure as specified in claim 4 and a measuring container overlying the backwall of said housing; and a block secured to said container and freely received within the confines of said inner wall when supported by said weight receiving platform.

F33 3? UNITED sTATEs PATEN'l OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent: No. 3'565'l97 bated February 1971 Inventor(s) William L. Carter It is certified that error: appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line A 35, "formed" should read --forward-.

Column 3, line 47, "form" should read -ormed-' lines and 49, "a recess 92 defined by opposing arcuate inwardly d1] ed walls" should be cancelled.

Column 4, line 10, -definingshould be inserted afte:

numeral "26'.

Column 3, line 47 after -"in" insert the Signed and sealed this 2L .th day 0; August 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETGHER,JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER, JR. Atteeting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

1. In combination with a weight control guide rectangular housing having a backwall and having a top wall, bottom wall and end walls joined to said backwall for defining an open front, a partition wall in the housing extending between said top, bottom and end walls parallel with the plane defining the open front, the backwall of said housing having an opening; an inner wall extending between said partition wall and said backwall around the opening in the latter, said inner wall having an aperture, one end wall of said housing having an elongated opening extending from said backwall toward the front of said housing; opposing inwardly directed walls connected with the inner surface of said end walls along opposing sides of the elongated opening and terminating in spaced relation to form a slot, the improvement comprising: weighing scale means disposed within said housing including a weight receiving platform freely received within the confines of said inner wall, said scale means further including, a tubular standard connected at one end with said partition wall inwardly of the opening in said backwall, a shaft connected with said weight receiving platform and slidably received within said standard; an indicator arm projecting through the aperture in said inner wall; a rivet pivotally connecting said indicator arm, intermediate its ends, to said inner wall; and a pin connected with and projecting laterally of said shaft, said indicator arm having a slot in one end portion slidably receiving said pin.
 2. Structure as specified in claim 1 and means including a spring connected, at one end, with said indicator arm for adjusting its weight indicating action.
 3. Structure as specified in claim 2 and further including a plug threadedly engaged with said partition wall and connected with the other end of said spring adjusting the tension of said spring.
 4. Structure as specified in claim 3 in which the end of said indicator arm opposite its slotted end is tapered to define a pointed end portion projecting outwardly through the slot formed in said one end wall.
 5. Structure as specified in claim 4 and a measuring container overlying the backwall of said housing; and a block secured to said container and freely received within the confines of said inner wall when supported by said weight receiving platform. 